“If You Can Teach About Yoga, You Can Teach About Life!”

One of the highlights of my week has been the time that I’ve
gotten to spend with student organizations this week. I’m starting to get to
know my students better, and that has included going to their events and
helping them get their work done. Last night, I led the Yoga Club in their
first meeting/practice EVER. It was a great experience in getting to see the
enthusiasm of a brand new organization and its officers, but also served as a
way for me to look a little more at my own style. Turns out, some pretty cool
connections can be drawn between the way that I practice yoga, and the way that
I work as an advisor and educator.

I like for people to
be comfortable.

Rather than launching into poses right as the time begins,
this practice started with learning more about everyone that came (27 people!
Wow!). I learned names, class years, and the variety of reasons that students
decided to do yoga. Some were beginners, others had been practicing for years,
and some even came because their friends asked them to :) Knowing the students
that I work with is essential to doing successful work with them, and that
practice showed up in last night’s session.

Learning is
two-directional.

Although the Club brought me in to lead, I took an
opportunity to let the students teach each other during the sun salutation. A
fairly common yoga flow series, I knew that other yoginis (the name for those
who practice yoga) in the room would know it, and I called upon two to lead the
class through it. Turns out, we do slightly different variations of the same
series, and so I got to learn something new as well.

The work that we do isn’t just done with the goal of
teaching students. They teach us too. And while it’s not always as literal, it
is something that I count on in my interactions with my advisees.

I like to have fun!

Within the first ten minutes of teaching yoga, no matter who
I’m with, I have to make a fart joke. Granted, it’s an instructional one (about
wind-relieving poses and how it’s designed to...never mind), but it’s also so
everyone can relax and have fun as they practice. I have fun with my work, and
believe that whoever I’m working with should have fun too. It doesn’t always
come alongside a fart joke, but that’s okay. If the desired task has gotten
done, learning has taken place, and everyone leaves with a smile, I’ve done my
job.